In this interview with Forthright Radio, Henry Giroux talks about the rise of authoritarianism by commenting on a range of interrelated policies and practices that increasingly function to undermine democratic institutions and work to produce what he calls a “war culture” in the United States. This is an interview that touches on the rise of Trump as a symptom of neofascism, the development of an environment in which the crimes of the elite and police take place with impunity, and a society in which violence has become normalized.
Giroux argues that America is engaged in practices in which extreme violence becomes the mediating force to address America’s social problems while at the same time producing a lawless culture in which unarmed Black people are killed by the police. He also discusses our society’s willingness to sacrifice children to lead poisoning in order to raise profit margins and the rise of a massive surveillance state that undermines dissent and creates a culture of fear. Giroux argues that American society is now conducting warfare against its own citizens, especially those considered disposable — Black people, immigrants, young people, Muslims, the working classes and others.
This is an interview unlike many others in its attempt to bring together the varied driving forces at work in tipping the United States into a dark and updated form of authoritarianism. Giroux also attempts to develop a discourse of resistance and hope by pointing to the need for mass support of broad-based social movements willing to challenge the political and corporate elites and to work not for reform but for the restructuring of society through a new system based on the principles of democratic socialism.
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We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”
Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.
It will be a long fight ahead. And as nonprofit movement media, Truthout plans to be there documenting and uplifting resistance.
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